Forgotten
by lea michele
Summary: Quinn/Rachel friendship. "So when Quinn hears someone crying in the girl's bathroom one day after school, she only hesitates for a second before walking in, knowing who it is immediately."


Junior year has so far been pretty normal. Quinn came back to school, and despite many conversations about it with Brittany and Santana, she doesn't join the Cheerios again. Between Glee club and trying to keep her grades up, she decides that she doesn't need the extra stress that comes with the pretty red uniform. Even though Santana puts up a good argument – "Coach Sylvester has gone a bit softer on us now, it's not as bad" – Quinn decides that she wants to focus on Glee and things that make her happy.

Speaking of things that make her happy, Puck is still there, overprotective and Puck-ish as always. He rarely leaves her side, his arm always around her shoulders and glaring at anyone who dares to even consider throwing a slushy at her. She is more grateful for him than she would say out loud, because that arm around her shoulder reminds her that no matter what happens, he will always be there for her.

The Glee club is another thing that will always be there for her. She sits in the classroom everyday and joins in on all the fun, singing and dancing and laughing along with everyone. After the apologies she gave over the summer, things between her and Finn are back to normal – well, back to the way things were before they started dating – and things between Rachel and her have been civil. The girl was right about them not becoming best friends, but it's nice to be nice to the girl and not have to be so awful all the time. Sometimes there are moments when Quinn would even back Rachel up when she suggests an idea, and Rachel smiles brightly at her, with a flash of hope in her eyes that maybe Rachel has finally found a friend.

Whenever Quinn sees this flash of hope, she can't help but smile back and feel a twist in her stomach at knowing the entire reason the poor girl doesn't have much self-esteem is because of the awful things she and the other Cheerios did to her. Rachel may exude confidence but Quinn knows that underneath that diva exterior is a weak, afraid little girl who will do anything to win approval. It was the reason she let Kurt give her a makeover, it was the reason she so easily came back to Glee after Finn led her on, and it's the reason now that she is so confident Quinn won't turn back into the HBIC she used to be. Quinn knows that she won't, of course not, she's far too soft for that now, but she knows in her heart that all the rotten things she did to Rachel can't just be fixed by a simple 'I'm sorry'. She knows that Rachel wholeheartedly forgave her, but that doesn't mean Quinn still doesn't feel bad.

So when Quinn hears someone crying in the girl's bathroom one day after school, she only hesitates for a second before walking in, knowing who it is immediately.

"Rachel?" She asks softly, pushing open the last stall door. The brunette diva looks up, quickly wiping away the tears that were previously falling so fast down her cheeks. She sat on the closed toilet lid so primly that she looked out of place, ridiculous to the point where Quinn might have chuckled if Rachel didn't look so upset.

"Hi, Quinn." She says quietly, so soft-spoken and unlike the Rachel Quinn knows that Quinn just has to stay. She squats down in front of the girl, looking up at her with concern written in her eyes.

"Why were you crying?" Rachel sits up at this statement, looking down at Quinn with an expression of strength and offense at her comment.

"I wasn't crying." Quinn smiles softly.

"Rachel, I've sat in these bathrooms and cried enough to know when other people are doing it. Besides, your eyes are all red." She points out; raising her eyebrows as if silently telling Rachel that she's right, and denying it won't help. Rachel exhales, almost deflating at being caught.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride home." Quinn says, standing up and walking out of the stall. She glances over at her shoulder to see Rachel staring at her with an incredulous look on her face.

"Well, are you coming?" She asks, raising her eyebrows expectantly. Rachel nods, standing up and grabbing her bag, following Quinn meekly out of the bathroom. They walk side by side in silence, neither of them speaking. There's an occasional sniffle from Rachel, but other than that the hallway is quiet.

It's not until they reach Quinn's car that Rachel speaks. She sits down in the car and stares at her hands in her lap, mustering up her courage. Finally she turns to Quinn.

"Why are you doing this?" She asks quietly. Her voice is so full of weakness and fear and yet there's still that bit of hope wrapped up in there that it takes everything in Quinn not to lean over and wrap her arms around the poor girl. Instead she smiles slightly, glancing at Rachel.

"It's going to rain. You don't want to walk home in that, do you?" She starts up the car and sees Rachel shake her head out of the corner of her eye. She smiles slightly and pulls out of the parking spot, leaving the radio off. As she waits to turn out of the parking lot, she glances over at Rachel again.

"Did you want to talk about why you were crying?" She asks gently, praying and hoping that Rachel isn't pregnant. The last thing anyone needs is another baby drama. Rachel hesitates, as if she's not sure if she can trust Quinn with something that shows such weakness, but finally all the stress of keeping things in and having no one to confide them in come tumbling in on her and the next thing she knows she's opened her mouth and it's all pouring out.

"I've just been so stressed out lately. My dad and my daddy both expect me to keep up my perfect GPA, which of course I've been striving for, but all the classes this year have been extremely strenuous and difficult. On top of having to deal with academics, I have Glee club to worry about, because in spite of Mr. Schuster giving solos out left and right, I still have to work to get my fair share, and it seems like I've had to work harder than usual for a solo that I want and deserve. And if that isn't enough, yesterday was my birthday and no one knew. I know it's quite a petty thing to worry about, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back, and today Shelby called me wishing me a happy birthday, and it hurt that she and my fathers were the only ones who realized it and it was painful just talking to her today and that's why I was sitting in the bathroom crying." Rachel spills what's been weighing on her mind and when it's all over she just inhales, her hands which had been fluttering around to make her points finally coming to a rest in her lap again, and Quinn blinks. Not once in her life has anyone forgotten her birthday, but as she looks over at Rachel, she can tell this has been a recurring problem for the brunette.

"Not even Finn?" Quinn asks quietly, and Rachel shakes her head.

"He never asked and I never told him. I didn't expect him to know. I didn't expect anyone to, actually. That's not really what bothered me; it was just another addition to my stressful life." She pauses, turning to look at Quinn. "I'm sorry for dumping all this on you but I would really appreciate it if you didn't go sharing all this with the other Cheerios. While I am grateful for your sudden friendship, I don't know if the others are quite as accepting." Quinn shakes her head; she hadn't even considered the thought of telling this to the other Cheerios out of cruelty.

"I'm sorry, Rachel. That must suck." She says, frowning slightly as she drives down the road. Rachel just shrugs as if she's used to it by now. Which, Quinn realizes, she is. This thought startles her and makes her feel sympathy for her, more than she ever thought she would feel towards the diva. Rachel quietly points out the road she lives on, as Quinn drives down it slowly.

"Thank you." Rachel says suddenly, breaking the silence that had fallen. Quinn glances over at her.

"For what?"

"For taking me home and listening to me. Not many people would have." Rachel says with a slight shrug. Quinn smiles slightly.

"You know Berry; you're not half-bad when you're not being completely uptight about things." She smiles at the girl warmly so she knows she's teasing her. Rachel smiles. It's a small smile, but it's genuine, and it reminds Quinn of a smile Rachel once gave Quinn last year, when she was telling Quinn that the Glee club wouldn't turn her back on her. She glances over at Quinn, amusement tugging at the ends of her lips.

"You know Fabray, you're not half-bad when you're not being mean and ruthless." Quinn pauses for a second before bursting into laughter. Something about the way Rachel said it combined with the words she used just amused Quinn, and before she knows it, Rachel's laughing too, and then they're both laughing with each other and wondering why they were never good friends before.

"This is my house," Rachel says, pointing to a nice two story house. Quinn comes to a stop and unlocks the doors, smiling at Rachel. Rachel thanks her again for the ride, and as she's getting out of the car, Quinn calls her name.

"Brittany and Santana and I were going to go shopping this weekend. Do you want to come?" Rachel hesitates, her eyes scanning over Quinn's face. When she can find only sincerity, she smiles again.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Quinn smiles and Rachel quickly scribbles her number onto a piece of paper, handing it to the ex-Cheerio. The blonde takes it and puts it into her purse, and Rachel waves, shutting the door and moving up the driveway to her house. Quinn smiles again, pulling away from Rachel's house, thoughts on how she can pull the other Glee clubbers together to throw a party for Rachel running through her mind.

Rachel walks inside the house, and for the first time in awhile, having her birthday being forgotten didn't hurt so much. She smiles to herself, walking up the stairs and into her room, humming softly and happily. She has a friend, her first _true_ friend in a long time, and it's someone she would have never expected and yet is truly grateful for. She puts her stuff down onto the bed when her phone beeps. She picks it up, opening it to see a text from an unknown number.

_What's your favorite kind of cake? And don't worry about Santana being mean to you this weekend, I'll talk to her. –Q_

Rachel smiles widely, quickly replying with the words 'vanilla' and 'thank you', saving the number in her phone. She sits down on the bed with the happy knowledge that she will never have to worry about being forgotten again.


End file.
